Firefighter honored for saving child

A 20-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Fire was honored Friday afternoon for saving the life of a 4-year-old boy last fall.

Firefighter David L. Sholl received a heroism award from the Benjamin Franklin Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution at the Florentine restaurant.

On Oct. 14, Sholl and other firefighters from Station 23 responded to a report of a fire at 5356 Ivyhurst Dr. on the East Side. Flames were showing when the firefighters arrived and were told that a child was still inside.

Sholl found Daxton Townshend-Burton under a blanket in a bedroom. The child was unresponsive but was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he was treated for exposure to smoke and gases from the fire.

He was released from Children’s on Nov. 1.

“If not for the quick thinking, perseverance and professionalism displayed by (Firefighter) Sholl and the crews from Station 23, Daxton Townshend-Burton would probably not be with us today,” a battalion chief wrote in a recommendation for Sholl’s commendation.

Firefighter Virgil A. Moore, who died last month after a 27-year career in the Fire Division, was honored posthumously for his expertise with underground storage tanks. He spent most of his career in the Fire Prevention Bureau, where he was a pyrotechnics inspector and OK’d the city’s Red, White and Boom fireworks every year.

Lt. Theresa Francis, a 30-year veteran of the Police Division, also was honored. After stints in patrol, homicide, internal affairs, and fraud and forgery, she now oversees the sexual-assault section. She helped establish a multidisciplinary team approach to investigating child sex abuse.